Fire Escape-Snowman
Fire Escape
One of our favorite events was going down the fire escape during a fire drill.
Since our class was on the third floor, rather than using the stairway for a fire escape
we used an enclosed chute on the north side of the building. It was
shaped like a metal farm silo about eight feet across. On the inside
was a spiraling cork screw chute like you find on outdoor tubular
slides.
The teacher would open the door at the top and the students would
jump on the slide, much like students do on play center slides. The
goal was to exit the classroom as fast as possible with the teacher
being the last one down the chute.
The boys always tried to be the first ones down the chute so they
could stand at the bottom and watch the girls come out the end of
the bottom of the chute. Invariably, there were always girls coming out the chute at the
bottom who failed to hold onto their dresses. You guessed it; there dresses would
flutter up in the air as they came flying out.
Reflection. Hebrews 2:3 says, “How shall we escape, if we neglect so great a
salvation; which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed
unto us by them that heard him.” There is no way to escape from judgment and
from hell except through the salvation experience. The plan of salvation is finished;
the gospel message is complete; atonement has been made for our sins, and the
Lord has returned to Heaven. Now it is up to each individual to accept the
completed work that God performed by sending His Son Jesus to the cross for their
sins.
Snowman
One weekend we received around 10 inches of new snow. We were hoping that school
would be cancelled, but it never was, regardless of the amount of snow. Although late,
most students made it to school.
By the time recess concluded, the temperature has warmed up just enough to pack the
snow. Students on the playground decided to make the largest snowman possible. All
the 5th grades worked on rolling the base. Finally, we were unable to roll the snowball
any further, leaving it in the center of the playground. When I stood next to the base, it
was about two inches taller than me, about five feet tall.
The next day, the class set out to make the second ball. We rolled all recess long and
finally got the second ball. It took all of us working together to lift the second ball and
place it on the base. By this time, we had used up just about all of the snow on the
playground. We started rolling the head but time ran out of time and had to return to
class. We purposed to finish the head once school was out for the day.
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All during the afternoon we talked about finishing the snowman after school. Finally,
school was out. We raced to find the head and finish rolling it. Working together, we
finally completed the head, planning it just right so that we ended the rolling at the
base of the snowman. By this time, we had used up all the good packing snow on the
playground.
As we looked at the head, it soon became obvious that the head was bigger than the
middle section. We spend the next 10
minutes or so, trying to scrap off enough
snow to make the head more proportional
to the base and middle section, hoping that
it would not break into pieces.
Finally, we got the proportions just right;
however, the head was so heavy that, as
hard as we tried, we were unable to place it
on the top of the middle section. We
decided to leave the head sitting next to the
base and went home, hoping in the morning
to get some more kids and maybe our
teacher to help us lift the head on top of
the snowman.
When we came to school in the morning,
our aspirations of having the largest snowman in the world were completely shattered;
the base, middle section and head had been complete destroyed. Apparently, some kids
in the neighborhood had gotten into the school yard and climbed all over our record
breaking snowman. During recess time, we were able to salvage enough snow to build
a fort.
Little did we know that we were far from making the world’s largest snowman. The
largest snowman was built by the folks of Bethel, Maine. The snowman was 122 feet,
one inch high and broke the Guinness world record for
the largest snowman. It took over a month to build and
was dressed in a 100 foot scarf, had 27 foot evergreen
trees for arms, and eyelashes made from old skis.
The following winter, when we moved to Wisconsin
Rapids, we made another attempt at building the largest
snowman possible. Don, Butch, Rick and Pat all chipped in
rolling the various parts and constructing the snowman in
front of the house.
Shortly after my graduation in 1963, I went to college in
Minneapolis and my parents moved our family to
Muskegon Michigan. One winter when I came home from
college over the Christmas break, Don, Butch, Rick, Tim, Shelly and Susie decided to
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Fire Escape-Snowman
make a snowman. But instead of making the entire body, we decided just to make the
head.
It took all of us working together to roll the
biggest possible snow ball. After using all the
snow on the front yard, we rolled the ball to
the back of the house and onto the vacant lot
on Sheridan Street. We have a movie of the
entire process.
After an hour or so of rolling, we had a ball
about six feet high. Butch, Rick and Don
worked hard at shaping the large snowball
into a head. We decided to form it into a
pirate with teeth, a big nose, beard, tongue,
eyes and a hat.
The beard was made out of dead grass that
was pulled from the vacant lot. The hat was
a small wading pool. The tongue was a red
frizbee that was placed in the mouth, just
enough to look like a red tonque sticking out
under one of the teeth. When we were
finished, it looked like one of the characters
out of Pirates of the Caribbean, which is a
series of fantasy adventure films produced by
Jerry Bruckheimer and based on Walt
Disney's theme park ride of the same name.
From a distance, it looked like a giant with
his head sticking out of the ground. It was a
real head turner as people drove past the
house. Later on in the week, we carved out the middle
of the head, making a snow fort, big enough for three
of us.
Reflection. Whever it snows I am reminded of
the wonderful grace of God that covers all our sin.
Under the snow may be dirt and junk that doesn’t
look very pleasing, all of which is covered with a
white coat of snow.
Stephanie Boosahda & David Stearman wrote a
song called, “Somewhere Its Snowing. The words
are as follows: I once read in a poem, when snow
covers the earth, that it hides the world's scars
and, gives nature new birth. And they say when a
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man turns from sin to the Lord that forgiveness like snow covers him evermore.”
The chorus says, “And somewhere it's snowing, see the soft drifting down as the
snowflakes surrender to the hardening ground. Like the good grace of Jesus that
now covers our sin in the kingdom of heaven it's snowing again.
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